Folding machines



Feb. 27, 1962 Filed Sept. 2l, 1959 A. A. CROSSKEY ET AL FOLDING MACHINES 4 Sheets-SheeiI 1 BvlAWw/OQW ATTQQNEYS FOLDING MACHINES 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Sept. 2l, 1959 .N .um

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FOLDING MACHINES 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed Sept. 2l, 1959 INVENTORS 194495,97- /Q/er//UR @eossfir fof/N (kaf/fm Cw@ wwf TTQQNEYS 3,022,996 FLDHNG MACHENES Albert A. Crosskey, Croydon, and John 0. Crabtree,

Caterham, England, assignors to 3.0.(3. Engineers Limited, Caterham, Snrrey, England Filed Sept. 2l, 1959, Ser. No. 841,321 Claims priority, application Great Britain Sept. 22, 1958 7 Claims. (Cl. 270--76) This invention is concerned with improvements in or relating to printing machines and more particularly web fed folding machines in which a web is folded, cut and delivered or other form o-f delivery.

In a known folding machine the web of paper from the printing unit enters the folding machine at the top of the triangular former and is fed by passing over a serrated roller. The former plate is inclined at an angle to the vertical and is tangential to the serrated roller at its top. its object is to put the first fold down the back of a newspaper or magazine by turning each half of the web of paper through 90. Guide bars or bending rollers bring the two sides of the copy together. The folded web is then passed between one or two sets of drawing rollers which are running at a speed slightly in excess of the web speed, thereby pulling the paper easily over the formera in other types of known folding machines, not having a triangular former or serrated roller the paper from the printing unit enters the folding machine, after it has been slit into a number of ribbons, by passing over turner bars which turn the direction of the web through 90 and then the separate ribbons pass between one or two sets of drawing rollers which are again running at a speed slightly in excess of the web speed. The once folded web in the case of the first arrangement or multiple ribbons in the second arrangement then pass between a pair of cylinders, namely the cutting cylinder and the folding cylinder, the cutting cylinder carries one, two or more knives o-r cutters. In the case of two cutters, these are set diametrically opposite one another, the distance between each cutter round the cylinder being equivalent to one newspaper o-r magazine in length.

The folding cylinder is fitted with needles, cam operated in such a way that they take the ribbon just prior to its being cut, carry it round the folding cylinder and then release the copy into the folding machine.

This tucking operation is facilitated by a second piece of mechanism carried in the` folding cylinder which causes a blade to protrude from the surface of the cylinder at the appropriate moment at a point midway between the ends of the copy and tuck it between folding rollers. The folding rollers consist of two rollers usually spring loaded, running at a surface speed in excess of the paper speed, their `object being to put the second fold in the copy. ln the case of the first arrangement or the first fold in the case of the second arrangement the copy is then guided by means of delivery guidesrinto delivery paddles. The object of the paddles is to slow down the fast moving copy as it is delivered from the folding rollers and lay it neatly onto delivery belts.

During normal running of a folder, jams are likely to occur with serious consequences at (a) the gap between the cutting and folding cylinders (b) in the folding rollers, and

(c) in the guides below the folding rollers adjacent to the paddles.

Accumulation of paper at any of these points very quickly builds up a pressure between the various components, forcing them apart with consequential damage.

lt is the object of the present invention to provide States Patent means whereby a pressure build up between two cooperating parts will not result in damage.

According to the present invention there is provided a folding mechanism comprising two co-operating parts between which the material to be folded will pass, at least one of the parts being mounted in movable bearings, a piston coupled to the movable part, an electrically operated control valve for the piston actuating uid and a switch located in the path of cam means movable by the movable part whereby upon movement of that member over a predetermined distance, the switch will be actuated by the cam means to operate the control valve in a manner to feed fluid or air to the piston to assist the continued movement of the movable part.

Further features and adv-antages of the present invention will appear from the following description of some embodiments of the invention, given by way of example only, reference being had to the accompanying drawings in which:

FiGURE 1 is a section through the bearing of a cutting cylinder of a web fed folding machine,

FIGURE 2 is a diagrammatic view of folding rollers of ya web fed folding machine,

FlGURE 3 is a diagrammatic View of the guides for the paddles of a web fed folding machine, and

FIG. 4 shows the circuit system of the machine.

Referring to FIGURE l eachof the reduced ends l of the cutting cylinder is carried in a bearing, generally indicated at 2, mounted in a rectangular bearing housing 3, itself movable in a bearing block 4. The location of the cutting cylinder with respect to the folding cylinder with which'it co-operates, is controlled by a piston (not shown) at each end of the cutting cylinder in an air cylinder 5, each piston being coupled to the adjacent bearing housing. Carried by the bearing housing is a cam 6 in the path of which lies a micro switch 7 carried by the bearing block. In the event that pressure builds up between the cutting cylinder and folding cylinder, the cutting cylinder will move away from the folding cylinder against the action of the piston until the cam actuates the micro switch when an electrically operated air control valve of known type as shown in FiG. 4 will reverse the air supply to the air cylinder so that the piston will now act in the same sense as the parting pressure acting on the cutting cylinder. A solenoid 30 is energized by the micro switch allowing air to enter the port 31 and move the slider 32 to the position shown, when air can pass thro-ugh ports 33 and 34 to the air cylinder 5, ports 3S and 36 acting as exhaust for this air cylinder. On resetting the valve by means of switch 39 the solenoid 30 is deenergized at the same time as the solenoid 37 is energized allowing air to enter the port 38 and move the slider 32 to its original position in which air passes through ports 33 and 35 to the air cylinder 5, ports 34 and 40 acting as exhaust in this case for the air cylinder. rthereby the pressure build up will be stopped. It is possible that should a copy become detached from the needle points in the folding cylinder before the needles are withdrawn in the normal coursev of events, a jam occurring between the folding rollers will cause the folding rollers to part more than a predetermined amount of movement necessary for their correct functioning.

Referring now to FIGURE 2 the folding rollers are shown at 10 and 11, the roller 10 being fixed and the roller 11 mounted in movable bearing housings 12. Each bearing housing is normally urged toward the roll er 10 by a piston (not shown) in an air cylinder 13 secured to the frame. Adjustment of the gap between the rollers may be made by hand wheels 14. Beneath each air cylinder is a micro switch 15 and actuated by the bearing housing is a cam 16. Should excess movement of the roller 11 occur the cam will actuate the micro switch to reverse the air supply with respect to the piston and result in the piston now assisting to part the rollers for example up `to /a inch.

A jam may occur at the guides below the folding rollers adjacent the paddles by a copy failing to go into the paddle ngers properly and following copies forming a wad behind it. This wad of paper can occur very rapidly when a folder is running at speeds of 20,000 copies per hour upwards.

Referring to FIGURE 3 the guides comprise a plurality of parallel members 20 mounted upon two bars 21 and 41. At at least one end the bars carry an L- shaped link 22 which projects away from the paddles, pivotally coupled to each link 22 are parallel links 23, 24. The link 23 remote from the paddles is secured to a cross shaft 25 carrying a cam 26 and an arm 27. To the arm 27 is coupled a double acting piston (not shown) in an air cylinder 28. lf pressure build up occurs tending to urge the guides away from the paddles, the guides Awill move with parallel motion, by-virtue of links 23 and Z4, away from the paddles and the cam will be moved by the cross shaft 25 until it actuates the micro switch to cause the air supply to act on the piston to urge the guide away from the paddles. Preferably the micro switch will operate upon l inch movement of the guides away from the paddles.

What is claimed is:

1, A folding mechanism for processing foldable sheet material, said mechanism comprising two co-operating parts for passing the material to be processed therebetween, bearing means mounting one of said parts mov-- able in reference to the other, pressure operated reversible drive means coupled to said movable part and normally moving the said part toward the other, control means 3o-acting with said drive means to reverse the same for moving said movable part into the direction away from said other part, and actuating means for actuating said control means controlled by said movable part moving away from said other part in response to pressure caused by an excessive accumulation of said material at said parts.

2, A folding mechanism comprising two co-operating parts between which the material being processed will pass, a uid actuated piston co-operating with at least one of said parts to retatin that part during operation in proper relationship relative to the other, an electrically operable valve in a uid supply line having connections to either side of said piston, switch means operable to open and close an energizing circuit for said valve, and a cam movable by said piston controlled part, said switch means lying in the path followed by saidcam upon movement of said part beyond a predetermined distance as effected by a choke between the parts, said valve means in response to operation of said switch applying iluid from said supply line to that side of the piston which will result in that part, moved by the choke, being urged in a direction away from the other part to relieve said choke.

3. A mechanism according to claim 2 wherein at least one part is a roller mounted on movable bearings, the piston being coupled to said bearings and the cam being fast with said bearings.

4. A mechanism according to claim 2 wherein said movable part is a guide bar mounted on a parallel linkage, said cam being connected to said linkage.

5. A mechanism according to claim 4 wherein the linkage comprises a pair of parallel arms pivotally mounted on a frame member at their lower ends, an arm coupling the upper ends of said parallel arms fast with the guide bar, and a cross shaft secured to the parallel arm remote from the guide bar, said cross shaft carrying said cam` and coupled by an arm to said piston.

6. A mechanism according to claim 5 wherein a spring is coupled between the frame and the parallel arms to bias the guide bar towards the other co-operating part in normal operation.

7. A mechanism according to claim 2 wherein adjustment means are provided for varying the distance between the two cci-operating parts, said adjustment means being arranged to vary the position of the piston.

References Cited in the le of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,857,114 Crafts May 3, 1932 2,399,445 Meyer Apr. 30, i946 2,660,426 Griver Nov. 24, 1953 @more 

